In the News

Marathon Drugs Increases Price 70-Fold – 2/10/17 More predation by pharma. Marathon has gotten a decades old muscular dystrophy drug, deflazacort, approved and is charging $89,000 a year for it. It’s price in Europe is under $1500/year. Where are the free market forces? Why aren’t our elected officials protecting us from this egregious practice?

Promising New Prostate Cancer Treatment – 2/2/17 A new and very effective prostate cancer treatment, reported here, has a two-year relapse rate of around 25%. Though clearly not a cure, it has a major benefit in that, unlike all other treatments, it has no. Light fibres are inserted in the prostate, rather like a biopsy, and a light-sensitive drug is administered. The cancerous tissue is killed, and all else left alone. Would certainly be worth a try.

Hypertension Developing Late in Life Halves Onset of Dementia – 1/21/17 Research here indicate that people who develop hypertension in late in life has almost half the reate of dementia. Yet more proof that hypertension has a purpose and unless it is off the charts, is best left alone.

Lowest Stroke Rates in Older Baby Boomers; Younger People Rising– 9/12/16 reports the American Heart Association, here. There could be numerous factors at work. Less smoking among the baby boomers and less healthy diet among the young would be our guess.

Sugar Lobby Promotes Sugar– 11/13/16 Surreal. JAMA reports here that the sugar lobby has been systematically attempting to put the blame for heart diseases on something other than sugar. What were they supposed to do? They’re the sugar lobby. The real question is, “Why did Standard Medicine buy it?”

Zika Breakthrough– 8/30/16 Reported here and elsewhere, two existing (already approved) drugs appear to be effective against Zika. If this pans out, it will speed things up immeasurably.

AHA Limits Added Sugar– 8/17/16 A sensible recommendation from the American Heart Association limits sugar for children aged 2-18 to fewer than 6 teaspoons a day. Paper here. A better recommendation: Fewer than 0 teaspoons added sugar per day for all children aged 0-110.

Calcium Supplements Linked to Dementia– 8/17/16 A report in the journal Neurology, here, links calcium supplements to dementia in some groups of women. The risk, alarmingly, is double for this group.

Suppression of Antioxidants Kills Pancreatic Cancer cells– 7/28/16 Researchers at Cold Springs Harbor Labs find that antioxidants are, in some cases, aiding cancer, and by suppressing the antioxidants, the oxidants are then able to kill the cancer. Link here.

High Cholesterol Found to be Cancer Protective– 7/9/16 A study presented at a British Cardiovascular Society Conference, link here, finds that high cholesterol is significantly protective for four common cancers: breast, prostate, lung, and colorectal. Reasons for this are unknown.

Zinc Acetate Lozenges Reduce Length of Common Cold– 7/6/16 Zinc for a cold is a Dr. Mike favorite. Here’s some science to back it up. A study published here finds that Zinc Acetate Lozenges shorten common colds by three days.

BMJ Article: Bad Cholesterol Isn’t Bad After All– 6/13/16 This is huge. In BMJ Open, here, a peer reviewed study finds that high “bad” cholesterol, aka LDL-cholesterol, is inversely associated with mortality. Higher levels=less death. The stuff is good for you. This is heresy of the first water. Expect a huge blow-back. The lipid hypothysis—that high LDL cholesterol causes heart disease—is ingrained in the medical community like an eleventh commandment. It has never been proven, and kudos to BMJ for daring to run this article. (We would crow that we have repeatedly posted that the dangers of LDL cholesterol were nonexistent, but we will be nice and refrain.)

Stem Cell Injection Reversed Strokes– 6/6/16 At Stanford, reported here, stroke patients receiving injection of mesenchymal stem cells directly into the brain experienced, in some cases, dramatic improvement. If this research holds up, this is an astounding result. “This wasn’t just, ‘They couldn’t move their thumb, and now they can.’ Patients who were in wheelchairs are walking now,” said lead researcher Steinberg.

Bariactric Surgery Now Recommended for Diabetes– 5/26/16 The American Diabetes Association (ADA), and other groups, have now endorsed bariactric surgery (stomach stapling) as a treatment for adult onset or type 2 diabetes (ADOM). We are not making this up. Report here. Of course the ADA dietary recommendations are almost guaranteed to prolong AODM, so we suppose some sort of strange logic is at work here. For the surgery-free, drug-free Quantitative Medicine method, click here.

Low Salt May Be Dangerous – 5/20/16 The prestigious British journal Lancet reports here that low salt intake is more dangerous than high intake. This is heresy, of course, and the article, the magazine, and the authors have already been condemned and will be burnt at the stake. The QM view is that high salt intake is a fairly minor factor. In this article, high intake is worse only for those with high blood pressure, whereas low salt intake is dangerous to those with high blood pressure, and those with normal blood pressure. Again, standard-practice medicine has been making things worse.

JAMA Discovers QM – 5/19/16 The prestigious Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) reports here that secession of of smoking, non-heavy drinking, and exercise reduce cancer. Now while it’s wonderful that they have now seen the light, or at least are circling around it, hasn’t this been obvious for the last 50 years? They studied only white males. Are they setting us up for a sequel? Let’s spoil that one: it works for everybody.

Calcium/Vitamin D Causes a Stroke or Heart Attack for Each Fracture prevented – 5/12/16 From a Norwegian study reported here, “Our analysis shows that if 100,000 65-year-old women take 1000 mg calcium every day, 5890 hip fractures and 3820 other fractures would be prevented. On the other hand, as many as 5917 heart attacks and 4373 strokes could be caused.” A horrid tradeoff made worse by the fact that osteoporosis is easily prevented and reversed with no supplements needed. See posts here, here, and here

Medical Error Third Leading Cause of Death in U.S. – 5/3/16 This is not news. As a leading cause of death in hospitals,medical error has been a focal area for almost 20 years. However, findings published here in the British Medical Journal.indicate the the problem is far from solved. Deaths due to medical error represent around 10% of deaths, some 250,000. One problem, according to the article, is that adequate records aren’t kept: the deaths are often attributed to something else. Best strategy: stay out of hospitals.

Big Pharma to World: Take Something! – 4/21/16 From JAMA, here, a trial was conducted for patients who couldn’t tolerate stains.(42%, in fact). The “solution” was to give them ezetimibe, a drug with no known benefit and some probably harm, a drug currently approved for a very, very narrow cohort of off-the-charts high cholesterol. Only 27% could not stand this drug, so the trial was considered a success. The drug industry seems insistent on cramming ezetimibe down our throats. To even embark on this strange experiment shows a callousness and disregard for patient benefit that surprises even us.

Is Fructose Highly Dangerous? – 4/21/16 Maybe. From UCLA we have a finding that fructose is linked to detrimental changes to hundreds of brain genes. Press release here. Scary stuff, and it makes some sense. The body goes to a lot of trouble to keep dietary fructose out of circulation, converting most of it to a concentrated form of glucose called glycogen, and rapidly removing any excess that does get into circulation. The reason for this aversion to fructose is not known, but the research sited above may provide a significant clue. Besides a major sugar component of fruit, table sugar is a 50-50 mix of fructose and glucose, as is high-fructose corn syrup, a ubiquitous food additive.

Are Proton Pump Inhibitors Overprescribed? – 4/15/16 A new report In the Journal of the American Society of Nephrolog seems to indicate that long term use of proton pump inhibitors, which significant reduce stomach acidity, causes increased kidney disease. Such drugs are widely prescribed and are also available over-the-counter. Though likely safe for short-term use, longer term consumption seems to have problems.

FDA Pulls Plug on Combo Drug – 4/15/16 In a rare glimmer of sanity, the FDA has withdrawn approval on a drug called Niaspan, which is a combination of statins and niacin. The approval was made in 1997. Given that is know that statins are practically useless, and that niacin actually increases heart problems, you may wonder what they were waiting for. So do we.Might they now consider the rest of the dangerous drugs out there? Details here.

Interesting Alzheimer’s-Insulin Result – 4/13/16 An NYU business school researcher has connected some interesting dots. It is well know that high insulin is involved in Alzheimers, but the connection wasn’t clear. It seems that the enzyme that breaks down insulin is the same one that breaks down amyloid-beta plaque, the tangled mess that is a hallmark of Alzheimer’s. Schiller’s idea is that perhaps the all the enzyme resources are spent on the high insulin, and the amyoid-beta doesn’t get removed. Details here.

Another Early Cancer Detection Breakthrough – 4/8/16 Researchers at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, OH, have created an optical biosensor for cancer detection that is a million times more sensitive than previous versions, pointing the way toward an effective early detection system for cancer and other illnesses.This might greatly improve early detection, which is ket to fighting cancer.Details here.

Choral Singing May Reduce Cancer – 4/5/16Researchers in Wales have determined that choral group singing improves levels of several anti-cancer hormones and biochemicals. Paper can be found here. In view of the next news item, the song Java Jive should probably be included in the repertoire.

Coffee Reduces Colorectal Cancer 50% – 4/1/16 Researchers at USC report “We found that drinking coffee is associated with lower risk of colorectal cancer, and the more coffee consumed, the lower the risk.” The press release is here. Dramatics reductions of up to 50% were seen. This area has been controversial for 20 years. The mechanism of cancer prevention is unknown, though it doesn’t seem to be caffeine, as decaf works as well.

Early Cancer Detection Breakthrough – 3/29/16Researchers at UCLA have developed a PET probe capable of producing far better images in certain types of cancers. With cancer, early detection is key. Clinical trials of the procedure may begin this year. Further info here.

Blonds Found to Be Non-Dumb – 3/23/16 A study here has found that blonds have a slightly higher IQ that non-blond people.Quoting,”Blonde women have a higher mean IQ than women with brown, red and black hair. Blondes are more likely classified as geniuses and less likely to have extremely low IQ.” It is hard to predict what researchers will think of to do research on. How about: “Do Blonds Have More Fun?”

Meal Time More Important Than Previously Thought – 3/17/16 Every traveler know that disrupting the circadian rhythm—the sleep cycle— is no picnic. New research from the Weizmann Institute indicates that not only is the body locked into this cycle, but even our mitochondria are. Mitochondria are tiny bacterial like cells found within almost all our own cells that convert the food we eat to energy. They apparently have time-driven hungry states, wherein they are ready and willing to convert the food to energy, and sleepy state as well. This means having meals at a regular time is more critical than previously thought.

Alzheimer’s and Brain Research – 3/17/16 There are almost daily reports of discoveries or possible breakthroughs involving Alzheimer’s and the brain. Just today, there are three such reports, all on mice, and so it is unknown if the results would carry over. There are reports of new neurons grown from stem cells, lost memories reactivate through light flashes, and increasing available neural energy by injecting pyruvate, an intermediate of glucose metabolism. A very active area.

Antidepressants Increase Mortality – 3/16/16 A study from Auburn and University of Alabama show a slight increase in mortality with uses of second generation anti-depressants.Report here. Knowledge of this will likely offset any anti-depression benefit as well. I much stronger anti-depressant that features a very strong reduction of mortality is exercise.

Canadian Medicine Discovers Exercise – 3/14/16 Canadian Medical Association announces: “Many doctors and their patients aren’t aware that exercise is a treatment for these chronic conditions and can provide as much benefit as drugs or surgery, and typically with fewer harms.” Not really. It actually provides A LOT MORE benefit. Bit it’s a step for organized medicine. Next week: hot water.

Exercise Reduces Alzheimer’s 50% – 3/11/16 No surprise at our end. But here, another study demonstrates the most effect way to prevent Alzheimer’s.

Alzheimer’s Caused By Microbes? – 3/10/16 Researchers have reported that a virus and two types of bacteria are a major cause of Alzheimers. A microbial connection has been (and probably will remain) controversial. However, the causes of Alzheimer’s are not known.

Magic Pill Announced – 3/4/16 Drug companies adore lifelong drugs, and the latest “breakthrough” combines statins, blood pressure reducers, aspirin, and adult onset diabetes medication, and is called a Polypill. However none of these four have shown any mortality benefit, and all of them have serious side effects. But in combination, they are suddenly magical? The idea seems to be to get rid of screening and blood testa altogether, and put everyone over 50 on this pill. This idea is so bad, it would be praising it to call it crazy.

Breast Cancer Breakthrough – 3/3/16 A new drug combo is very effective against the HER-2 variant of breast cancer. A fourth of those treated saw dramatic reduction in tumor size, while in an additional 11% the tumor completely disappeared, in under two weeks. Details here.

Television Exposure Directly Linked To A Thin Body Ideal In Women – 2/22/16 The only real question here is: Are they paying grown-ups to come up with this? It’s a real study. Details here. What will they study next? How about: Driving Blindfolded May Increase Accident Risk.

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Aging

Getting old is not for sissies. The choice is stark: Follow the procedures on this blog, and in the forthcoming book, which will slow it down as much as possible, or do nothing and endure its inflictions. One choice means a lot of work, and the other a lot of pain and suffering. Not so easy to put a pretty spin on “The Golden Years.”

There are many theories of aging. As far as Quantitative Medicine is concerned, there are two principal components:

Mitochondrial damage. Mitochondria reproduce every three weeks or so. Damage to DNA could be replicated. Though the body has numerous defenses against this, the damage slowly accumulates.

Stem cell damage. Stem cells replicate. Although the stem cells are somewhat hidden out of harm’s way, there is some damage, and this too accumulates.

Retard Aging by Protecting Stem Cells and Mitochondria.

If cells that are periodically replaced are to remain “youthful”, the stem cells that produce them, and the mitochondria that power the operation, need to stay as healthy as possible. Of course, these are interrelated. The four most damaging situations are:

ABOUT YOUR STEM CELLS…..Cells do not replace themselves by directly dividing. This would simply replace old, worn-out cells by old, worn-out duplicates. Instead the body maintain a store of fresh health stem-cells (sometimes called progenitor cells) that can create new healthy cells. The stem cells for the skin live well below the surface of the skin where they are protected. They produce new skin cells which a then pushed toward the surface. The intestines, which are replaced every four days, have stem cells tucked safely away in “crypts,” well away form the caustic and unpredictable intestinal contents. Stem and progenitor cells usually can produce several types of cells.

High iron

Sedentary lifestyle

Adult onset diabetes

High cortisol

The first one, high iron, could be hereditary, could occur with the onset of menopause, or could occur as a result of various dietary choices. The excess iron is toxic to the cells, and, if untreated, will greatly accelerate aging. The blood marker for this is ferritin. The treatment is periodic bloodletting.

The other three causes are quite familiar to us by now. And once again, the QM “pill” cures them! Interestingly, though, to seriously slow down aging, all three significant lifestyle components, diet, meditation, and exercise, are necessary.

It may be a bit of a surprise that a sedentary lifestyle accelerates aging. A principle to bear in mind is that busy cells are healthy cells. If a cell is being challenged, its mitochondria complete their energy production cycles, nutrients are consumed, and all is well. If the cell is idle, the mitochondria are inactive. They will skid to a halt partway through their energy production cycles. If they are in this state very long, they tend to kill themselves, and loose certain oxidizing radicals into the cell. This frequently kills the cell as well. This is a simple catabolic response. The body is removing unnecessary cells.

ABOUT YOUR MITOCHONDRIA…Inside every cells are tiny bacteria-like creature called mitochondria. There are hundred of them, a veritable infestation, but a very healthy one. These mitochondria take in the food you ate, and convert it to ATP, the universal life energy. They are bacteria-like because they originally were. They were captured by us, or rather our ancient single-celled ancestrs, perhaps a billion years ago. Like all good bacteria, they reproduce by division. But how many are resident, and how often they divide is controlled by the host cell. They are replaced about every three or four weeks.

However, this process is not entirely clean. The oxidizing radicals might damage the host cell, but not kill it. The mitochondria might reproduce, though damaged. Now we don’t fall apart if we don’t exercise, so it goes almost without saying that the body has numerous mechanisms to block the damaged cells and mitochondria from reproducing. But some damaged ones will reproduce. Odd, isn’t it, that a lot of cellular turnover translates to slower aging? But that is how we are designed.

Suppose all the cells are stressed for some other cause. An environment of hormonal or biochemical imbalance would cause this. The two most common causes of chronic imbalance in our society are chronic stress and adult onset diabetes (AODM). Chronic stress causes chronically high cortisol. High cortisol boosts insulin and glucose levels, shuts down the immune system, curtails anabolic cell renewal activity, and interferes with sleep. This alone would be a good launch into AODM, and frequently is.

Adult onset diabetes stresses every cell and all their mitochondria. AODM is frequently accompanied by a sedentary lifestyle, which compounds the problems. Given the widespread damage that AODM causes, and the numerous diseases it triggers, it should come as no surprise that the list includes accelerated aging. The cells are overloaded with nutrients and underutilized. This is, of course, a very unhealthy environment, and cellular damage would be an expected consequence.

So again, QM to the rescue. Get the numbers straight. Remove chronic stress, reverse AODM, exercise, and the cells will run clean again. Aging slows.

The Telomere Theory of Aging

This theory is as widespread as it is false, but we suppose it has certain philosophical implications (also false) that keep it going. Here’s how it works: When we evolved from bacteria with their circular DNA into eukaryotes with DNA strings, we needed a way to mark and protect the ends. This is the job of telomeres. A telomere is a specific sequence of nucleotides and it is repeated, typically 100 times, rather like wrapping a thread around the end of a rope to keep it from fraying. This part is true.

When a cell divides it loses a telomere. 99, 98, 97, …. 1, 0, done. So in this theory, lifespan is programmed. However, if you look one level deeper, it falls apart. The intestine replaces itself every four days. By the telomere theory, we would run out of replicable cells in about 400 days. Obviously this doesn’t happen, and it turns out that there is cellular gadgetry that will fashion new telomeres and tack them on. This process occurs where it needs to. We are never going to run out of telomeres for the cells that need them. That’s pretty much the end of the Telomere Theory of Aging.

However, telomeres do throw a nice monkey wrench into cancer promotion. As a cancer cell replicates, it also loses a telomere. It would run out unless it could also replace the telomeres, so this is another barrier. Not an insurmountable one obviously, but cancer cells are defective, so some can’t pull off the new telomere construction bit. The more ways cancer cells can run aground, the better off we are.

Bats

An extreme example of retarded aging is the bat. North American bug-eating bats weigh less than a mouse, but outlive it tenfold. The principle reason appears to be that bats have great mitochondria. Or is it that they have a lot of them? Likely both. Flying has such a high metabolic demand that any animal able to do it has to have a huge amount of mitochondria. Bats live 25 years. So do hummingbirds. Some of the larger birds outlive us. These animals do not seem to age. Of course, there are no retirement homes for flying animals (with the possible exception of parrots). When birds and bats can no longer fly, their life is over. So everything has to work in this high-energy mode until the end. That their life should be so greatly extended over their landlubbing cousins attests to the power of busy, healthy mitochondria and the consequent cellular health.

How We Can Be Like Bats, At Least As Far As Aging is Concerned

We can’t fly, but we can make the choices that will likely get us to 95 or beyond in one piece. Bats have no monopoly on that. Get the blood marker numbers in the right place and it all happens. Of course, the changes that must be made, the exercising, and all the rest can seem quite daunting. There are no shortcuts, no fountain of youth, no super-statin pills, but the ability to lead this life and reap the benefits is built-into all of us.

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Why does Quantitative Medicine work?

Many sites offer nice-sounding advice about nutrition and exercise, but almost none have actually put this advice to work in a large-scale clinical setting. Starting in the late 90s, Dr. Mike Nichols operated a clinic wherein each patient was quantified with blood tests and other measurements, and an optimum diet and exercise regime suggested.
This became a continual process and Dr. Mike has accumulated data on hundreds of people for almost 20 years. At this point in the process, he knows what works, what doesn’t, how to restore health, slow aging, and block degenerative disease. But the formula is different for everyone, and without measurement, lifestyle recommendations are just a medical guessing game. Is Paleo best? For some, sure. But without measurement, there is no way to tell.
But more importantly, when the optimum lifestyle is determined, implemented, and actually achieved, almost all people get well, and life’s chronic diseases are slowed, often reversed.
This is no idle claim or hopeful promise. This has already worked in a clinical setting, long-term and with real people. Given how different people are, it is folly to try to apply a one-size-fits-all set of recommendations. The sooner this is realized, the faster the planet will get well. Quantitative Medicine is the future.

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Mike Nichols, M.D.

Charles Davis, Ph.D.

What Is Quantitative Medicine?

Quantitative medicine is the practice of determining and modifying your health guided by direct measurement of meaningful biological markers. Everyone is different. The best diet is unique to each of us. Diet markers must be directly and precisely measured.

Why Are We Doing This?

My practice has been highly successful. Many many people have gotten well, have avoided degenerative diseases, have extended their lives. But my practice is full.
By starting this blog, I am taking the first steps to make Quantitative Medicine available to everyone. You, the patient, supply the self-discipline, physical, mental, and spiritual perseverance, and we will supply the information and resources you need to realize the full benefits of Quantitative Medicine.
By measurement, an optimally healthy lifestyle can be determined for anyone. The results are profound and pervasive. Degenerative disease is prevented or rolled back. Longevity – healthy active longevity – is increased. This has worked for over 2000 patients.
This blog is just starting. There will be videos, books, ebooks, ebooklets, on-line analysis tools, in short, everything you will need. Some will be free, and some will not. None of it, though, will be expensive.
For now we are just getting started. A lot more information is coming, so please stay tuned.